Experts also want emphasis to be placed on minimizing incidents of human-animal conflict. | Photo credit: File photo
Presenting the Union Budget on February 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that India is hosting the first-ever Global Big Cats Summit, where heads of government and ministers from 95 range countries will discuss common conservation strategies.
How will this decision to host the summit affect the state, which apart from being home to the country’s second largest tiger population, has also seen many human-animal conflicts in recent times and resulting casualties on both sides?
Wildlife experts Hind spoke to were not enthusiastic about such summits and said the main focus should be on wildlife conservation.
“I am very skeptical of these international summits and their visits by heads of state. We have had a number of them in the past, one in Russia in 2010 was headed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. I think it depends on what work we are doing and whether we are doing good science. I think there are too many of these celebratory events and they outweigh the real achievements of what we are doing on the ground in research and wildlife conservation,” said K. Ullas.
He added that given the limited resources we have and the many things that need to be done, money should be spent on them instead of such summits.
Biologist and conservationist Sanjay Gubbi said the focus should be on conservation and ensuring that instances of human-animal conflict are minimised.
“It (Global Big Cat Summit) is good for soft diplomacy, but the main focus should be on developing strategies to minimize human-animal conflict and protect wildlife,” he said.
In the budget, Ms. Sitharaman also talked about the International Big Cat Alliance in 2024 launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2024, the Union Cabinet approved its establishment with headquarters in India. It has received one-time budgetary support of ₹150 crore for a period of five years from 2023-24 to 2027-28.
Published – 01 Feb 2026 20:51 IST